Loose Ends
by Dark Ride
Summary: Following the events of The Matter of National Security, Marinette and Adrien are starting to adjust to their new status and allies. But the way it goes, good things never last for long. Especially when the previous Chat Noir comes back to town, determined to fix old mistakes, no matter what it takes.
1. Chapter 1

I'm using French spellings of certain names (Chat, Nathalie etc.) because of a personal preference. When it comes to the catchphrases, I'm partial to the English ones (Spots on! Claws out! etc.). While I did my best to make my fic compliant with canon, I'm still employing a generous helping of artistic license. Basically, this is an AU of sorts that is very close to canon except for where it would contradict my plot. This mostly relates to the way the magic works in this universe and the timeline of certain events. Enjoy!

* * *

One advantage to fighting in an airport, Chat Noir mused as he used his baton to vault over the seats and out of the way of the Akuma's attack, was all the enclosed space. Fighting inside the buildings usually restricted his and Ladybug's movements to a certain degree, the same as it did the Akuma. But the inside of the airport terminal provided them with space to move freely while at the same time keeping the Akuma contained and in their sight.

"Stop moving!" the Akuma - La Mallefieux - shouted as she lobbed another conjured suitcase at Chat. He backflipped out of the way, trying to give Ladybug time to get out from under the literal mountain of luggage the Akuma had buried her in with one lucky shot. Even that had only happened because Ladybug had been trying to protect a group of tourists who had stood there gawking at the fight going on.

"Has anyone ever told you that anger can cause too much emotional baggage?" Chat shouted cheekily, batting away another projectile and sending it flying back in the Akuma's direction. The following collision sent the possessed woman crashing into one of the conveyor belts. Chat turned to Ladybug who just landed lightly next to him, having shaken herself free of the trappings. "Aww, I expected a _Boeing_ at least," he complained playfully.

Ladybug rolled her eyes and used her yo-yo to restrict the Akuma's movement before she could climb to her feet. It was a relatively easy fight, the Akuma too angry to strategize properly and only with the power to conjure various types of suitcases. While it was unpleasant to be hit by them, an avoidance was possible.

"I think the Akuma is in that tag she's holding in her left fist," Ladybug said pointedly as she tightened the string of her yo-yo and tugged at it, sending La Mallefieux back to the ground.

"On it."

Chat threw a jaunty salute with his baton and jogged to the trussed up woman. She glared up at him as he snatched the tag and broke it, the purplish butterfly fluttering away before Ladybug captured and purified it. It was pretty much routine up to the fist bump and "Pound it!". And then Ladybug smacked his arm.

"Boeing? Seriously?"

"I know and I'm sorry," Chat admitted, leaning against his baton as he scratched his chin. "Not one of my best. And since I don't want my jokes to bring _disConcorde_ between us, I'll cool my _jets_ for now."

It was kind of funny to see her exasperated face. He had used to have to imagine what she could look like under the mask but now he didn't have to. He knew exactly how Marinette looked when she heard one of his jokes, especially when she was trying not to laugh at them.

"What am I going to do with you?" she sighed and he shrugged.

"Keep me regardless?" he suggested timidly and he was quite pleased to see the faint blush spreading across what was visible of her cheeks.

"I suppose," she said and then they were approached by the airport authorities and it was all business for them.

It had been a little over a month since the two of them had left a DGSI office with the knowledge of who exactly they were. Chat was Adrien and Ladybug was Marinette. They were partners when wearing their masks and classmates and tentative friends out of them. They were the confident heroes of Paris and they were also a pair of insecure teenagers.

They agreed they wouldn't date each other yet. While both were made aware of the feelings they held for the other person (in a very embarrassing conversation), those ties had gotten tangled a lot and until they figured themselves out, they would keep things simple and platonic. With maybe a little flirtation thrown in now and then.

If anything went wrong in their romantic relationship, they needed there to be a strong base to which they could fall back. Things going sour and uncomfortable between Adrien and Marinette would be bad enough on its own but the repercussions it could have on their job would be far worse.

They spent the past month getting to know each other again, without any secrets in the way. Chat could honestly say that if there had ever been any hope of him moving on from Ladybug, it had been ruined by getting to know Marinette. She was just so perfect...

He shook himself back to the present when Ladybug called his name. He grinned at her sheepishly and went to join her in shaking hands with the director of the airport who was thanking them profusely. Privately, Chat thought that for how important the airport was, Roissy could do something about their security clearances. It seemed like there was a scandal relating to a luggage theft - the reason for the Akumatization of today's victim, every couple of years.

Even though they hadn't used their powers during the fight, Chat and Ladybug made their excuses as soon as they could. They had gotten a message from Eveline Laurent that they had a ride waiting for them at the main car park and with the airport being 25 km from Paris, they were more than happy to take her on the offer. A mad dash across Parisian suburbia to get to the Akuma as fast as possible was one thing. Having to make the same journey without the necessity behind it was another.

"Étienne," Ladybug called out when she recognized one of the DGSI's agents waiting by a black Audi. The man, a former soldier and two-time Savate champion, was one of their instructors who was helping them refine their fighting styles. Chat had expected him to be a man of few words but he was a surprisingly jovial guy who had no problem cracking jokes, although he was 'saving his best until you are old enough to get them'.

"Ladybug, Chat Noir," he acknowledged them and opened the door for them. "The windows are all tinted, you can transform back. There's some cheese and cookies for Plagg and Tikki, bought in a convenience store at the airport, I'm afraid. I didn't expect I would run into you today and there wasn't time to get anything better."

"That's okay," Ladybug reassured him and Chat nodded as he climbed in after her, both of them dropping their transformations as soon as the door closed.

"Yeah, we sorted this out quickly," Adrien said and then he winked at Marinette. "Then again, time sure flies when you're having fun."

Étienne laughed appreciatively as he took his place in the driver's seat.

"I'm picking someone else here but their flight got delayed. I still don't have time to drive you both home but I can drop you off somewhere close in the city."

"Gare du Nord?" Marinette suggested. "We can get home from there easily enough."

Having a backing from a government department made things a lot easier for them both. Just having an instructor to go with them over their technique had an impact on their performance. The fights got shorter and there were times, like earlier, when they didn't even have to use either of their powers.

Then there were the perks like having people come and get them when they ended up too far from home or if they were exhausted from a tougher than usual Akuma, with no need for excuses.

Not that they needed an excuse this time. As far as Marinette's parents and Nathalie were concerned, he and Marinette were taking an advantage of the early summer weather by studying for their end of the school year tests in Jardins du Trocadéro. They had more than enough time to get where they were supposed to be, with none of their guardians any wiser.

They had actually managed to study for a bit earlier, before they had received an alert on their phones of the Akuma and raced off to save the day. With the excitement of the fight over, Adrien wasn't exactly eager to go back to reviewing History and judging by Marinette's constant glances at her sketchbook, she wasn't racing to pick up the textbook either.

So after being dropped off at Gare du Nord, instead of catching one of the buses available, they decided to walk around Paris for a while. It was as close to a perfect afternoon as it could get so of course it came to an end far too soon.

The text message from Nathalie was short and straight to the point.

 **There's a special guest coming for dinner tonight. Come home immediately.**

"Who do you think that could be?" Marinette asked when he showed her the message. Adrien shrugged, quickly tapping out an affirmative answer and sending it.

"Probably one of Dad's business partners. They sometimes come to Paris unannounced and we have them over. At least I'll get a dinner with Dad out of it."

Marinette looked as if she was about to say something but bit it off. Adrien knew she was aware his home life was a far cry from the one she knew but she wasn't prying into it. Adrien had become so used to brushing off his father's neglect that he had difficulty voicing his problems with it. For now, it was enough to know that if he wanted to complain about his father, she would listen.

"I'm going to work on my summer dress design tonight," she said at last. "So you can call me or stop by later, if you want, that is."

"That would be great, Mari."

* * *

Nathalie was waiting for him and directed him straight to the living room, not even giving him time to put his bag away in his room. Adrien was confused by that. Usually he was made to look presentable if they had company over but he wasn't about to complain. He was curious about who that special guest could be.

"Adrien?" a woman's voice greeted him as soon as he entered the room. " _My god_ , you have gotten so big!"

It wasn't one of his father's business partners. They wouldn't be caught dead dressed in a Jagged Stone T-shirt and faded black jeans. The woman that stood up from an armchair was wearing just that. Something about her was familiar and Adrien was pretty sure he had met her before but he wasn't sure where or when.

She took him in and shook her head.

"You have no idea who I am, do you?"

"I'm sorry, M'am."

"If anyone's at fault, it's me. I should have kept in contact but after Lydia was gone, well..." she trailed off and shrugged. "It was easier to lose myself in work." She smiled a bit sadly and walked over to Adrien, looking him up and down. "You look a lot like her."

"Thank you-" Adrien paused and she filled the resulting silence.

"Valérie, Adrien. My name is Valérie."

And Adrien remembered just why she looked so familiar.

"Aunt Valérie?" he asked, a little uncertain and she laughed and nodded.

"The one and only. It's great to see you again, Adrien."

"It's great to see you, too," he replied, a bit stunned. She wasn't his real aunt, per se, but she and his mother had been best friends since childhoods and she was the closest thing to an extended family Adrien had. She had been gone from his life since shortly after his mother had disappeared and considering how close the two women had been, it wasn't difficult to understand why. After all, his father had almost done the same thing, only his absence had been emotional rather than physical.

"I'll be staying in Paris for the next few months and I'd like to get to know you again, to be the aunt I was supposed to be, to make up for my absence. That is, if you want me to." She offered him another smile and Adrien could only nod wordlessly. "Great! Now, may I hug you or would you prefer I don't? Either is fine."

"I-I'd like a hug," he managed to say and was then enveloped in surprisingly strong arms. Adrien took a deep breath to stop himself from letting his eyes tear up but his vision started swimming regardless. He remembered with a sudden clarity, how his seven years old self had declared that Aunt Val gave the best hugs in the world.

 _"Even better than Mommy's?"_

 _"No. Mommy has the best hugs."_

 _"That she does."_

"I'll make it all up to you, Adrien, I promise," Valérie said quietly before finally letting go of him. "Now, I heard something about a dinner? My flight was delayed and I'm starving."

Adrien wasn't sure what to expect from that promise but he hoped that his luck would, despite all expectations, hold up. After all, the last month had been great. Surely it could last a bit longer.

* * *

 **A/N:** Next chapter: an awkward, not-quite-family dinner at Agrestes. Plus a certain cat will get more than he expected for his curiousity.


	2. Chapter 2

An awkward, not-quite-family dinner at Agrestes'. Content notice for language and mentions of neglect.

* * *

It was a bit overwhelming. Aunt Valérie asked him a lot of questions and although none of them were invasive, Adrien wasn't used to have so much adult focus on him. He expected questions about his school results and modeling experience because that was the norm. Being asked about his interests wasn't.

"I have six years of Christmas and birthday presents to catch up on," she told him. "And I believe in personalized gifts."

Adrien nodded. That fit in with what he remembered of her. Before he could reply, the door to the dining room opened and his father walked in. He stopped briefly and looked at where Adrien and Valérie sat at one end of the table. Aunt Valérie had dragged one of the chairs from the middle of the table over to Adrien's customary place so they could talk more easily. Now she stood up and dragged it back, dropping it down and continuing past it towards Gabriel.

Adrien watched as they exchanged the perfunctory greeting of cheek kisses. His father looked uncomfortable and Adrien realized this was most likely the first time in a long while that he was interacting with someone who wasn't an employee or a business partner.

Aunt Valérie obviously picked up on his father's discomfort. She let out a short laugh and patted his arm.

"Still as stiff as ever, eh?" she asked. "It's good to see you, Gabriel."

"Likewise, Valérie," he said. "I see you and Adrien have already started to catch up."

"We have," she said. "From what he told me, I can see that he grew up to be a model child."

Adrien almost missed the slight emphasis she had put on the word model. Almost. Did Aunt Valérie just make a pun? The self-satisfied grin she wore indicated so.

The adults took their places and Valérie turned towards Adrien.

"I heard you're almost done with your first year of public school. How do you like it there?"

"It's great. The subjects aren't that difficult and I get along with most of the kids in my class."

"What about friends?"

"Well, there's Nino, who's my best friend-" Adrien paused when his father scoffed.

"I still think he's a bad influence on you," he stated. Valérie looked between the two of them and smirked.

"Do tell. Does he try to get you to drink? Or do drugs? Maybe skip the school every day?"

"No?" Adrien said, bewildered. "We just hang out, listen to music or play video games."

"I see," she said and nodded sagely. "He's a normal boy who gets you to do things all teenage boys do. Yep, I can see why your father disapproves. What a disastrous friendship it is. How dare he gets you to have fun?"

"Your sarcasm is not appreciated," his father said in a tightly controlled voice. Valérie merely raised an eyebrow at him.

"You could do with some relaxing and fun yourself, Gabriel. Do you spend all the time working?"

There was an uncomfortable pause and Valérie shook her head.

"Unbelievable. Next thing you'll be telling me is that this is the first time you had a dinner with your son in a month."

Adrien looked down at the table. He was used to his father not paying attention to him. He knew it wasn't how normal families worked but as there was nothing he could do to change it, he did his best not to think about what he was missing.

" _What the fuck, Gabriel?_ " The english profanity made Adrien wince. He knew enough of the language to know that it was one of the worse ones. He looked up and the anger in Aunt Valérie's face took him aback. She was that furious on his behalf? She glanced at him and her face softened. "We're having a long talk after this," she told his father who looked ready to retort angrily but after he looked at Adrien, he nodded in aquiescence.

The carefree atmosphere of earlier was gone. The three went through their meals quietly. Adrien usually took every opportunity to eat his fill, his diet not accounting for his Chat Noir activities, but he didn't feel very hungry. Everything had seemed to go so well before, he should have known his luck wouldn't hold up.

Mid-way through the main course, Aunt Valérie cleared her throat.

"So, Nino is your best friend. What about other friends? Isn't there someone special? A girlfriend? A boyfriend? Both?"

Adrien gratefully latched on the change in the topic, even if the inquiry was embarrassing.

"I don't have a girlfriend yet. Or a boyfriend," he added quickly. "I spend a lot of time with Alya, who's Nino's girlfriend, and her best friend Marinette."

Valérie cocked her head to the side, considering.

"Marinette? She's the _yet_ , isn't she?" she asked and then explained. "You said you didn't have a girlfriend _yet_ and the look in your eyes when you said her name..." she trailed off and shrugged. "It's the trademark 'Agreste in Love' look. Your father wore it often enough around Lydia that I can recognize it easily."

"We're just friends," Adrien feebly protested. "I do like her and I know she likes me but we don't want to rush things. We became good friends only recently and we want to strengthen our friendship before we go any further."

Both his father and Aunt Valérie stared at him and Adrien felt himself blushing under the scrutiny.

"That's surprisingly mature and responsible of you two," Valérie said at last. "I hope I can meet these friends of yours some time."

"Of course," Adrien agreed.

"The girl's name sounds familiar," his father spoke up.

"She won one of your design contests, the one for the derby hat."

"Ah yes, she developed the ingenious stitching with a hidden signature. A very distinct tell, especially for someone so young."

That sounded very approving, especially by his father's standards.

"Yeah, she's amazing."

Valérie coughed into her napkin but did nothing to suppress her wide smile.

"You're so deep and you don't even know it," she murmured as she stared at Adrien. "Well, go on, tell me more about her."

"Uhm, she's very nice and kind to everyone. She is the class president and she makes sure to listen to everyone's concerns and does her best to solve any problems..."

It probably should have been embarrassing, just how long he could talk about Marinette and that was even without touching upon what she did as Ladybug. But it was not like he was making up any of it. Marinette was simply that amazing.

"She sounds almost too good to be true," Valérie remarked when they got to the cheese. Adrien surreptitiously snuck a handful of cheddar cubes to Plagg who had been keeping quiet in his pocket.

"She certainly seems like a very special young lady," his father said. "If or when your romance develops further, I'd like to meet her."

"Of course, Dad," Adrien said, a little bit stunned. He was sure his father would like her - who wouldn't - but that he would offer to meet her of his own volition... That was a first. Aunt Valérie stared as well but then she inclined her head a bit. Maybe what she had said earlier had gotten through to his father. Adrien certainly wouldn't mind if that was the case. He didn't think his father was distant on purpose. The drift had happened gradually and maybe it took an outsider to get his father to see it.

"You know what's really funny?" Valérie said as she played around with her plate of select cheeses. "I used to dislike cheese when I was a kid. But it eventually grew on me. Especially the moldy kinds." She punctuated the sentence by popping a cube of cheese into her mouth.

Adrien stared at her in awe. That was a glorious pun. Valérie grinned and winked at him.

"I consider puns the highest form of comedy. And it was a fun little exercise in uni."

"What did you study?"

"Languages. I'm rather gifted in that area," she said. "I work as a translator and interpreter all over the world. It's a good job. I get to see some really interesting places and I get paid rather well, too."

"That sounds like a good job."

Valérie snorted a bit.

"I dare you to say it after you spent a week brushing up on your Japanese and hoping you remember all the courtesy phrases because the success of a multi-million Euro deal depends on your skill. And that's nothing on my latest job. Fourteen months in Andes, going stone by stone through an Inca temple and cross-checking every symbol because getting even one thing wrong would ruin all the previous work." She stared at her glass for a moment before she shook off whatever was on her mind. "Anyway, it's a good job but it has its drawbacks. Like everything in the world. So it's a matter of weighing the pros and cons and then deciding if the thing is worth it."

She was looking pointedly at his father as she finished her little speech. He met her eyes and let out a sigh.

"We can talk in my office. If you'd follow me," he said and stood up. "Adrien, you go to your room. I will talk to you later."

"Yes, Dad."

Adrien broke into a run as soon as he was by the stairs. He didn't have long, not if he wanted to listen in on that discussion.

"Did you have enough to eat?" he asked Plagg once he was in the safety of his room. The kwami poked his head out of his pocket.

"You shouldn't listen in on them," the cat grumbled. "It's not going to be pretty."

"They're going to argue about me," Adrien pointed out.

"Exactly, you'll only feel guilty and then you'll mope and I'll have to deal with you."

Adrien rolled his eyes. Sometimes it seemed that Plagg did nothing but complain.

"I'll buy you a whole block of camembert tomorrow."

Plagg sniffed derisively and turned away.

"You think you can bribe me with so little?"

Adrien grinned. He got him now.

"Fine, I'll buy you two. Claws out!"

It was easy to scale down the wall of the house and get to his father's office's window. With the summer weather they had recently, it was kept open. He seemed to be just on time as the first thing he heard was the click of the door being closed. And then came Aunt Valérie's voice.

"The only reason I stayed away so long was because I thought you were a decent human being. I didn't expect you to neglect your son. Seriously, Gabriel, what the hell is wrong with you?"

"Adrien is well taken care of. I admit I haven't been very diligent in balancing my parent duties with my work but that is hardly a reason to insult me."

There was a long pause and then Valérie spoke again.

"Gabriel, I know."

"What do you mean?" There was a defensive note to his father's voice and Adrien considered how much the risk of peeking through the window to see what was going on was worth.

"You weren't the only one keeping Lydia's secrets. With that knowledge, it wasn't difficult to connect the dots."

"I see," his father said. "And what do you plan on doing with this knowledge?"

"That's the beauty of it. I don't have to do anything. You messed up, Gabriel," Valérie spoke, her voice growing fainter and then stronger. She must have been pacing. "You didn't do enough research and it's going to bite you in the ass."

"What would you know about these things?"

"Certainly more than you do. For example, I know why you couldn't wear the brooch. Speaking of which, I'd like to have it."

"No."

The swift refusal didn't seem to deter Valérie. Adrien quickly looked inside, catching a glimpse of her facing his father. He could only see her back but her stance was confident.

"It's useless to you."

"It's a memento of my wife," his father said pointedly. Valérie let out a snort.

"You have a son who looks a lot like her. Why do you need something that amounts to a useless trinket?"

"Why are you so interested in that useless trinket?"

"Because unlike you, I don't have a wonderful child to remind me of a woman I loved so much."

"Are you trying an emotional manipulation?"

His father's tone was tinged with surprise.

"I happen to believe in one old adage. The end justifies the means. I think you can relate."

There was a brief lull of silence and Adrien took the chance to look in again. Valérie and his father stood several paces apart. His father had his hands behind his back in what was his favourite pose. Aunt Valérie appeared relaxed, only her tightly crossed arms betraying her tension.

"Very well," his father said, breaking the stand-off. "What exactly do you want?"

"Two, well, three things. One, the brooch. Two, I want to spend some time with Adrien and I think his schedule should be relaxed a bit. He's a kid, let him enjoy his childhood."

"And three?"

"Make more of an effort with him. Even if it's only a half-hour every second day, be more present in his life."

"And if I were to refuse?"

"First, I would curse you out in thirty-seven languages, twelve of them no longer spoken anywhere in the world. Second, I would probably smack you. Or kick you, I'm still debating on that point. Third, I would sue for Adrien's custody on the grounds of neglect and make this into the biggest scandal to hit the press in the past ten years."

"You would go that far?"

"The end justifies the means, Gabriel. You're hardly in a position to judge me on this."

His father was silent for a moment.

"The threats are the only reason I'm giving you the brooch," he spoke at last. "As for the other two points, I'm agreeing because you were right to chastise me for my failures in that regard."

Adrien was sure he would have been able to hear Valérie's sigh of relief even without his amplified hearing.

"It's good to know you still have some humanity left in you."

His father didn't reply. There was some rustling, the sound of something being opened and closed and then his father spoke again.

"I suppose you have no idea what happened to an old book I kept in the safe?"

Adrien winced. Marinette had confessed she had taken the book out of the bin where Lila had thrown it and had then brought it to Master Fu but the old man had been very tight-lipped on the whole issue. The only thing he had told them had been that the book had gone missing a few years back and it had been suspected to be in a collection somewhere.

Marinette had thought that his father might have bought the book after the emergence of the Miraculouses in Paris. It was as good a theory as any other.

"I haven't been in France in fourteen months," Valérie said. "So no, I have no idea."

"Very well. I'll let Nathalie know about the changes to Adrien's schedule. You can talk to her about everything to do with that later."

"Thank you, Gabriel. I'm going to take my leave now."

"Valérie," he called after her. "When you said I didn't do enough research, what did you mean by that?"

She stayed quiet for a few seconds and then...

"The more you want something, the more you have to pay to get it. Even if you were to succeed, it's very likely you'll lose everything else in the process. The end justifies the means but sometimes, the end is not worth it, not after you do the final count of what it cost you to reach it."

"I see," his father sounded contemplative. "I'll keep that in mind."

"You do that. Good night."

"Good night."

Adrien quietly crept away, scaling the wall to get back to his room and releasing his transformation. A lot of what he had heard had gone over his head. He wondered why that brooch was so important to Aunt Valérie that she would threaten his father to get it. And what was that whole thing about his mother's secrets?

"That was strange," he voiced out loud. Plagg flew over to him.

"I told you so."

"No, you didn't," Adrien said. "You thought I would get upset but I'm not. I just don't know what to think about it."

Plagg shrugged and went over to the bed, making himself comfortable on one of the pillows but out of sight of the door.

"Will we go out later?"

"Yes, I want to talk to Mari about everything but I need to wait for Dad."

"I'm going to take a nap," Plagg announced, closing his eyes but then he opened them, glaring at Adrien. "And I expect those two blocks of camembert the first thing in the morning."

"Of course," Adrien said. He got out his phone, sending out a quick text to Marinette to let her know he would be dropping by later. He knew she didn't mind even unannounced visits but if he let her know in advance, she would make sure to have some snacks ready. And no one in Paris would dispute the fact that baked goods from her parents' bakery were the best in the city.

The expected knock came a few minutes later and Adrien opened the door to let his father in. He took only a few steps in, looking down at Adrien.

"I apologize for the scene at the dinner. It's never pleasant to have one's shortcomings pointed out but your aunt was right. I was remiss in my duties as a father. The only excuse I can offer is that in everything I have done in recent years, you were the first and foremost person in my thoughts."

"It's okay, Dad, I understand."

He didn't, not really, but this was more than Adrien had ever expected to get from his father. Just the fact that the man was willing to go through with this... It gave Adrien hope that things might get better one day. His father nodded.

"Your schedule will be adjusted to give you more time with your aunt and your friends. Nathalie will go over the details with you."

"Yes, Dad."

His father nodded again. He moved as if he was to leave but then paused and looked at Adrien.

"You are important to me, Adrien. Never doubt that I care even though I may not always show it."

With that, he quickly walked out, leaving Adrien to his confusing thoughts. It was a good thing he would see Marinette soon because as things stood, she was the only constant in his rapidly changing world and he needed that stability more than he ever had before.


	3. Chapter 3

To the anonymous guest who asked about my intent re: Gabriel and Hakwmoth. I'm doing my best not to make it obvious to the characters but as far as where I stand on the debate, I'm fully in the "Yes, he is" corner.

* * *

Something was off about the way Adrien acted.

Marinette looked up from her sketchpad at the boy who was leaning against the chaise near her legs and watching her. She didn't understand why he would find that relaxing but they had spent several evenings this way and she had come to accept it. Adrien liked to watch her when she worked on her designs. It was actually flattering, once she got over the initial embarrassment.

But there was something different about tonight. He was looking at her but he wasn't seeing her. She didn't think that the dinner with his father and the unknown guest had gone badly. He would be more upset and trying to hide it. Instead, he just seemed lost in thought.

Marinette looked over to where Tikki and Plagg were talking in hushed voices. If anything was really wrong, Plagg would have told her the moment he had left the ring. So whatever was on Adrien's mind was personal.

She closed her sketchpad - she had finished the general design of her dress and had been only playing around with embellishments so it could wait - and leaned over to catch Adrien's eyes.

"Is something wrong?" she asked. "You're a million kilometres away."

Adrien ducked his head embarrassedly.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to ignore you."

"I'm not saying it wasn't nice to have some peace and quiet with you around for once," she said and bopped his nose playfully to take any sting out of her words. "But this is not like you."

"It's just..." he started, paused and then he sighed. "It was a weird evening. And not normal people weird. Our standards weird."

"Oh."

"I have never told you about my Aunt Valérie, have I?"

"I thought you didn't have any close family other than your Dad," Marinette said and Adrien nodded.

"She hasn't been around in years. Her job requires a lot of traveling and the last time I saw her I was ten. I didn't even recognize her at first."

"She's in Paris now?"

"Yes, she was the special guest." Adrien stood up and took a seat on the chaise instead of the floor, turning to face Marinette. "She's not my real aunt but I always called her that. She was my Mom's best friend since they were kids. They lived close to each other, went to the same schools until university, she was a maid of honour at my parents' wedding, she visited often. She was a family in all the ways that matter."

Marinette reached over and took his hand, squeezing it. Adrien squeezed back, smiling a bit.

"She said she wanted to make up for the time she had been gone."

"Isn't that a good thing?" Marinette asked before something occurred to her. "Your father doesn't like that, is that what's wrong?"

Adrien grinned and shook his head.

"Actually, Aunt Valérie can handle my Dad just fine. It seems all my Dad needed was for someone to tell him off. I'm going to have more time to spend with Aunt Val and with my friends and Dad will probably find more time for me, too."

"That's great," Marinette said and leaned over to hug him before she could talk herself out of it. Friends could hug each other when they shared good news and yes, they were taking things slow but that didn't mean they had to be *that* slow and if she wanted to hug Adrien, she would. He had no similar qualms about hugging her back and it was actually nice, just sitting in her room and hugging.

"It feels sort of unreal," he murmured into her ear. "Like it's just a dream and I'm going to wake up soon and nothing would have changed."

"But it's not," she assured him. "You're going to wake up tomorrow and it will still be real."

"She wants to meet you," he said so quietly she almost didn't catch it. Almost. She let go of him and leaned back to take in the flush that was slowly overtaking his face.

"Why?"

Adrien looked down.

"I may have talked about you a lot," he mumbled. "Since the main course all the way to dessert and cheese."

Their faces probably matched at that moment.

"I-ah-well-that's..." Marinette stopped trying to say something coherent. She wasn't going to succeed.

"Dad wants to meet you, too. Eventually. He remembered your name from that contest."

"He did?!" she squeaked out because yes, she didn't like the way the man was treating Adrien but his work was among the best and to be remembered by soomeone of that skill and influence... Well, it was validating.

"I got the feeling he would approve of us. When we get together. I mean, if we get together. Because I wouldn't mind being with you but you have a say, too, and I'm not going to push you and-"

She put her hand over his mouth to stop his rambling.

"It's okay. I know what you meant."

Adrien nodded before his eyes lit up with an idea and the next thing Marinette knew was a warm and wet sensation on her palm. He had just licked her palm! Marinette yelped and threw herself back, toppling off the chaise in a fabulously uncoordinated display of embarrassment-born clumsiness. She could hear Adrien's chuckles but she refused to lift her head up. Out of all times for this to happen!

"Are you okay?" he asked, his grinning face peering at her prone form. She glared up at him and he lost the grin. "Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you," he aplogized and she let out a big sigh.

"I should be used to this. You can be such a cat at times."

"Hey!" Plagg spoke up suddenly. "That wasn't a cat thing, that was a stupid teenage boy thing."

Marinette realized that the kwamis must have been watching the whole time and it made the embarrassment worse. Adrien seemed to realize the same thing because he stood up and offered her a hand.

"I should be going, it's getting late and we have the meeting with Eveline tomorrow. I'll stop by at one?"

"I'll be waiting," she replied. "The Jardins excuse again?"

He nodded.

"I'll see you then, Mari. Good night."

"Good night, Adrien."

There was a flash of green light and Chat saluted her cheekily.

"'Til tomorrow, My Lady."

And then he was gone. Marinette shook her head, a soft smile on her lips.

"'Til tomorrow, Kitten."

* * *

"We're calling it Project Akuma for now," Eveline Laurent said to the silence that filled her office after she handed Marinette and Adrien a thin folder each. "We have been compiling data for several months now and we're ready to proceed to the next stage, depending on what you two think about this."

Marinette flipped through the papers in the folder. There were a lot of graphs and tables and equations and frankly, a lot of it was over her head. She had reasonably good grades in science but this was a whole another level.

"Can you summarize it for us?" Adrien asked, frowning down at the papers.

"Well, we know that an Akuma is created when someone feels a strong negative emotion - anger being the most common. At the most basic level, it's all about the body chemistry. If we could influence the Akumas' bodies' chemistry, we could eventually find a way to neutralize them without you needing to fight them. It would be safer for you."

"How would you do that?"

Eveline pushed around some files on her table.

"We're currrently looking for volunteers to become Akumas. As proven by Lady Wifi, the magic contained in Akumas has no negative influence on electronics. We would have the volunteers wear monitoring devices which would be ensured to stay on them, or in them in some cases, even when they were turned into Akumas. We would be able to see how being an Akuma alters their bodies' chemistry and we could develop some kind of a sedative to counter those effects."

Marinette carefully set the folder down and met the older woman's eyes, making sure she would be understood.

"No!"

"But Marinette, think-"

"You heard her," Adrien cut Eveline off, his face as serious as Marinette's. "No! We're not doing this. You're not doing this."

"Be reasonable," Eveline pleaded. "This could mean an immense breakthrough. If we can understand how Akumas work, we will eventually be able to stop them even without you. We wouldn't have to keep dragging you away from your daily lives and into danger, all you would have to do would be to show up when it suits you to purify the butterflies. It's a win-win for everyone."

"You're talking about Akumatizing people on purpose," Marinette pointed out. "It wouldn't be win for those people."

"We would only use volunteers," Eveline protested. "People who would know what they're getting into."

"That doesn't make it any better," Adrien said. "Most of the Akumas so far were innocents who got caught up in the mess mostly because they had a bad day. You're talking about using people who want to become Akumas. That sounds like a really bad idea. What kind of person would want that?"

Eveline sighed and rubbed the bridge of her nose.

"I thought you would like it. It would make things easier for you two."

"It might," Marinette agreed. "But the price would be too high."

"And we're not so selfish we would be willing to pay it," Adrien added. Marinette reached for his hand to squeeze it in acknowledgment. He flashed her a quick smile and she was really glad they were on the same page regarding this. Some things were just wrong, no matter the justification. This was one of those.

"Fine," Eveline said and took the folders back, throwing them to the side. "We'll stop the project at the theoretical part." She looked at them and shook her head. "You are such heroes," she grumbled.

"That's what we do."

Eveline sighed again but didn't try to persuade them to change their minds.

"Let's go over your fight with Le Mallefieux, then. Étienne left you these notes," she started and soon it was business as usual.

* * *

 **A/N:** A bit fillerish but necessary chapter. See you next week.


End file.
